Huseyn Chechenov, member of Nuclear Energy Sub-Committee of Federation Council

– The construction of new safer NPP will improve the energy situation in whole North-Western region

On Oct 25 2008 St.Petersburg Atomenergoproekt started concreting the foundation plate of the reactor building of the 1st unit of Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant-2. The construction of LNPP-2 is part of the federal target program for the development of the energy industry of Russia 2007–2015 approved by the Government of the Russian Federation on Oct 5 2006.

We are building a new safer nuclear power plant, which will improve the energy situation in the whole North-Western region.

I have just come from South-East Asia. They in Vietnam have already adopted a law on nuclear energy and are planning to build four reactors by 2010. I think that the experience we are acquiring and the innovative approaches we are developing while building nuclear power plants inside our country will give us serious competitive advantages. I think that we have enough capacities for conquering a share on the foreign market. In this light, it is extremely important for us to build all NPPs we are planning to build even despite certain problems. This will strengthen our positions on the foreign market. We must hurry up as this market is quickly enlarging: China with its plans to build 40 reactors, India, Vietnam, Latin America, Northern Africa. So, we need such projects for enhancing our experience and introducing new technologies.